THE BAT CHASE (Batwoman/Ruby Rose fanfic)

TEN

"Excuse me... Hey, you! Wake up!"

I blink sleepy and confused before taking a look around, I'm lying on the sidewalk and the mass of the Wayne Tower stands to my left while Luke Fox is staring at me, with a displeased grimace on his face, leaning his shoulder on a streetlight to my right. It was his foot kicking mine gently what woke me up and I remember what happened all of a sudden, what I'm doing here and that I'm wearing my suit. I sit down with an abrupt movement and the world spins around me for a second, I lean my hand on my head trying to stop the swinging of the buildings around me but Luke takes my gesture the wrong way.

"Don't worry, I didn't touch your mask. I have no interest in knowing your identity: to me, you're nothing but an impostor and the only hero who has the right to use the Bat-Signal is precisely the one who invented it: Batman. This is an odd place to take a nap, isn't it? Aren't you supposed to be chasing criminals?" Every word he lets out is indicative of his disdain for me, which is a pity because he's a lovely guy usually and I've enjoyed working with him as Kate Kane.

"That's what I was doing," I answer standing up staggering a little.

"Are you talking about that figure dressed in black that ran away a few minutes ago? She escaped when I got closer... I don't think she's seen your face under the mask. She seemed to be in a hurry..." I sigh relieved, feeling better immediately, the last thing I need is someone as smart as shade knowing my true identity. "You have something on your wig, by the way..." He waves his hand casually and I touch my red hair with my fingers till I find what I'm looking for. It's a ruby rose petal, of course. I can't help snorting, Shade is trying to make fun of me and I fail to see the humour.

"What are you doing here?" I ask quietly feeling my throat dry.

"The alarm went off," Luke tilts his head pointing at the Wayne Tower. "I'm here to check if everything is okay."

"An alarm went off?!?!?!" I'm almost yelling. It must've been her, what the hell she wants from my cousin's building? There're several offices rented to important companies and some luxury apartments where wealthy people live, besides the upper floors reserved for Wayne Industries... the possibilities are endless.

"Yes but just the one on the lobby, someone tried to get in the elevator without an access card and then tried to open the door that leads to the staircase but couldn't do it..."

"You don't know that," I cut him off angrily. "Let's check it." Luke rolls his eyes when hearing my harsh tone of voice but follows me reluctantly. He knows Kate Kane is in charge here and she made him promise that he'd help Batwoman in case something happened in the Tower or near, my father confirmed my command and I know he respects the Colonel so he'll give me whatever information I need although he'd like to send me to hell with my wig and all, most likely.

We're in the security room of the ground floor watching the footage five minutes later. We can see a shadow wandering around the lobby in contrast with the beige marble and golden doors of the elevators, most of the time she's avoiding looking at the cameras and we can't see what she's actually doing but she seems to be very busy for a few minutes, she tries to open the door leading to the staircase and that's when the alarm went off, she checked the elevators later and that was the second alarm. And then... nothing... She probably walked out of the building and I caught her, we talked and she knocked me out. That time sequence is pretty clear, the problem is that we don't know when she sneaked into the building before the alarms warned Luke.

"What happened to the alarm of the main door? It didn't go off..." The guy fidgets on his seat and seems reluctant to answer.

"I don't know, my security system is the best... she couldn't hack it, it's impossible... I'll find out what happened and what time it was when she arrived..."